The Constitutional Fight

Against Corruption in Nigeria:

Is It Enough?
Dr. Kabiru Isa Dandago
Department of Accounting, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
Kidandago@yahoo.com

Abstract
This paper examines the various dimensions of corrupt practices in Nigeria with a view to suggesting the
level of corruption within the country. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is reviewed to
highlight relevant provisions aiming to reduce corruption from the thoughts and actions of everybody in the
country, especially public officers. These provisions are then subject to criticism. Based on the observed
poor implementation of some of the corruption eradicating provisions in the Constitution, by all the three
arms of governments, the paper is strongly inclined to the socio-political theory that less developed
countries (LDCs), like Nigeria, are “soft states” whose governments are incapable of dealing with the
rigidities of society that hold back economic development and that firm government action is needed to
overcome those rigidities. It is along the line of this conclusion that the paper challenges the Nigerian
law-makers to enact Nigerian version of Sedition Act, borrowing a leaf from Malaysia, with a view to
overcoming the country’s social, political, economic and other corruption-related problems and moving
forward. This is the best way to make the work of corruption crusading agencies in the country (EFCC,
ICPC, etc) challenging and more understandable.

Introduction
Corruption has been described as an act of evil or wrong doing for the purpose of money-making (Michael &
James, 1991). This shows the rush for money-making as the basic cause of corruption, (1997:261). Simply
defined, corruption is “dishonest or wicked behaviour”. This shows corruption as any sign of diversion from
accepted standard of behaviour. Auyo (1998) described corruption as the destruction or dissolution of a
constitution or the perversion of anything from an original state of purity. Rossouw (1999) defined corruption
as inducement by improper means to violate one’s duty towards one’s principal, resulting in harm to the
interest of another party, and in financial benefit for the perpetrator. In other words, corruption is said to have
taken place when there is aberration in the way of doing things normally. In public affairs, corruption includes
embezzlement of public funds, theft, bribery or any attempt to steal or unlawfully obtain or misuse any asset or
power.
Corruption is, therefore, demonstrated by perversion or destruction of integrity in the discharge of public duties
through bribery or favour, or any other forms of influence or malpractice. It is, accordingly, considered as a
social or psychological situation in which the right or correct manner of doing things or handling
responsibilities is abandoned and replaced by improper behaviour as a result of certain internal or external
stimuli.
Corruption, a term simply denoting dishonesty in thought and action, is a serious problem slowing down the
process of industrialisation and economic development in developing countries, like Nigeria. Various efforts
have been made or are being made, by different governmental and non-governmental organisations to fight
corruption in Nigeria. But until recently, Transparency International, an independent organisation assessing

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the level of corruption in countries of the world, has been showing Nigeria among the three most corrupt
nations.
Nigerians, at all levels, must make it a duty to dig out the root cause(s) of corruption in the country and provide
lasting solutions to it, no matter how bitter, painful or difficult the actualisation of the solutions would be. They
must do this, if they really want the country to be industrialised and economically developed. Each of the three
arms of government, and all citizens, have a role to play to ensure that corruption is eradicated, or at least
reduced to the minimum level possible. Corruption cannot be checked through mere rhetoric or creation of
agencies which can only bark but not bite!
Government efforts, such as the establishment of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Code of
Conduct Bureau, Independent Corruption and Related Practices Commission, Public Complaints Commission
and National Orientation Agency, suggest commitment to the fight against corruption. The presence of some
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like The Nigeria Chapter of Transparency International, Civil
Liberty Organisation, Campaign for Democracy, Business Ethics Network of Nigeria (BEN–Nigeria),
professional bodies, religious organizations, trade unions, mass media and other perceived whistleblowers
should be deterrent to corrupt practices in the country. It is, however, clear that Government efforts and the
presence of anti-corruption organizations have not had a major impact in combating corruption in the country.
To succeed in the fight, the country must deal ruthlessly with the root causes of corruption that hold back
sustainable economic development and this requires the adoption of some radical and stringent measures that
could be likened to bitter pills.
The remainder of the paper is in five parts. Part 2 is about conceptual framework and literature review; part 3
describes our methodology; part 4 highlights the constitutional provisions on corruption and observed
weaknesses thereon; part 5 proposes an alternative model of fighting corruption in Nigeria and part 6
summarises and concludes the paper.

Conceptual Framework And Literature Review

Although the concepts of ‘fraud’ and ‘corruption’ are often used interchangeably, a distinction between the two
related phenomena should be made. While corruption is associated with the misuse of public positions and,
consequently, is mostly associated with the public sector and public officials, fraud is a phenomenon that can
occur in both the public and private sector (Rossouw, 1999). While corruption can be viewed as something that
only affects the public sector and public officials, any employee or even outsiders can be perpetrators of fraud.
Corruption implies third-party involvement where employees violate their duty to their principals by colluding
with a third party; they abuse their positions by either accepting or demanding a bribe from a third party. This
is, however, not the case in fraud: employees or even persons outside the organization can commit fraud on
their own initiative. As fraud lacks third-party involvement, it is more difficult to detect than corruption, whose
third-party involvement provides a possible source of information (Groenendijk, 1997).
Corruption in Nigeria, just as in most other African countries, has currently become the greatest challenge to
leaders and citizens, threatening to undermine effective governmental financial management. It is also a threat
to both economic development and the process of establishing an enduring democracy in developing countries,
like Nigeria. Nigeria’s widespread corruption has historical roots that we should critically reflect on if we are to
succeed in controlling and gradually eliminating it. Scholars like Callaghy (1986), Nukunya (1992),
Groenendijk (1997), Ruzindana (1998), Waliggo (1999), Osei (1999) and Rossouw (1999) traced the root
causes of corruption in Africa to: prevalence of dictatorial rules, monitized or materialised economies, poor
economic and educational empowerment of the citizenry, the “politics of the belly”, making the public sector
as the “prime mover” of economic development and the absence of national ethical and moral values and true
patriotism. Appropriate measures, no matter how bitter, have to be adopted to root-out these causes of
corruption, if Nigeria and indeed other African countries are really serious about the fight against corruption.

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There are many branches or dimensions of corruption in Nigeria, which need stringent measures in practice for
effective prevention and control. (1998) highlights some of them to include: abuse of power; ill-treatment of
subordinates and indecent treatment of people’s needs; self-award of contract; malicious withdrawal or
‘carpeting’ of personnel files; unnecessary delay of actions on certain demands; fraudulent distortion of facts
and figures; nepotism; embezzlement and other financial misappropriation; ghost worker systems; 10%
syndrome; transfer of public funds to private accounts; over-invoicing; over-pricing of contracts; and arson,
usually to cover-up corrupt practices.
The above 14 dimensions of corruption in Nigeria are not exhaustive. Corrupt practices could, however, be
narrowed down to two main types: vertical and horizontal. According to (2003), vertical corruption, which
involves managers and decision makers, is more common in less developed countries. Horizontal corruption,
in contrast, involves all the official, informed and laymen groups in the countries. The two types of corruption
should be seriously addressed and eradicated if any meaningful economic or political progress is to be made.
Governments’ commitment towards the eradication of corruption has been a matter of serious concern in
developing countries, like Nigeria.
Looking at the Nigerian public sector, Dandago (1997) identified five main influences including:
[i] economic factors; [ii] political factors; [iii] socio-cultural factors; [iv] soft-punishment; and [v] poor
accountability. It is clear that the poor salary levels of most public servants have not kept pace with inflation
which has eroded their purchasing power. It is also clear that the process of gaining power in Nigeria is either
by armed force or the influence of money. Social values in Nigeria are obviously related to wealth
accumulation, and this leads to widespread moral decadence as many Nigerians struggle to get recognition and
status by amassing wealth, if necessary through illicit means.
Traditional chieftaincy titles and membership of boards of directors of government-owned corporations are
only for the ‘influential’ individuals in the society who have ‘made it’ economically or politically. Most of
those people ‘made it’ through enriching themselves fraudulently, but enjoy public respect and accolades. The
most annoying thing is that honest and dedicated public servants, who have not accumulated dirty wealth, do
not command much respect from the society. These attitudes serve to encourage a new-breed of public servants
who engage in corrupt practices.
In most cases, recommendations of panels, commissions or committees of inquiry into corrupt practices are not
being implemented. In some cases, the penalties meted out to the corrupt officers are not commensurate with
the gravity of their offences. These soft penalties and, sometimes, total absence of punishment against
confirmed corrupt officers encourage like-mind public servants to follow in their footsteps.
If public servants at all levels are to be sincere in declaring their wealth before and after holding public office,
corrupt practices might be eradicated or reduced to the minimum. Those holding positions of authority are
expected to provide explanations and reasons to interested parties (the public in general) on how they have
discharged the responsibilities entrusted in them.
When Chief Obasanjo was first sworn in as President of Nigeria in 1999, he promised to make the fight against
corruption a major focus of his administration. As part of this commitment, he requested the Federal Ministry
of Finance to sponsor a survey of governance and corruption. Based on a methodology successfully applied in
many countries around the world, the study consisted of the application of three standard complementary
survey instruments (households, enterprises and public officials) to assess issues associated with government
service delivery and related corrupt practices (overall Summary Report, 2003).
Having assessed the gravity of corruption in the country and having found it to be inhibiting of moves towards
sustainable national development, the study called for a frontal assault on corruption and the introduction of

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transparency and accountability in the mind set of government and its officials. It also called for citizens to join
together in opposition to corruption until their collective call for action is heeded.
The main purpose of the survey was to provide the impetus to engage in a national dialogue about corruption,
thereby focusing attention on the issue and creating windows of opportunity to pursue targeted reforms. The
aim was to assist the government of Nigeria to develop effective accountability/anti-corruption strategies. This
paper is in line with this purpose.

Methodology
The documentary method of fact finding was used to develop this paper. A thorough review was made of the
1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with a view to assessing the strength of its specific
provisions in the fight against corruption and what needs to be done to support these provisions for a successful
fight against corruption. As the 1999 Constitution developed from the 1995, 1989 and 1979 Federal
Constitutions, the paper also reviews these constitutions to ascertain the country’s constitutional efforts to fight
corruption. Secondary data were also reviewed for and a literature review.

Results and Discussions

Constitutional Provisions on Corruption
The 1999 Constitution and the Guide to the previous civilian dispensation contain some provisions aimed at
preventing or arresting the level of corruption in Nigeria. The major provisions are summarised below:
(i) Declaration of Assets and Liabilities: Sections 140(1) and 185(1) of the 1999 Constitution say that “a person
elected to the Office of the President (or Governor) shall not begin to perform the functions of that office until and unless
it has been confirmed that he has declared his assets and liabilities …” Sections 149 and 194 are about assets and
liabilities declaration by ministers and commissioners respectively, before assuming duties. There are also provisions for
other government officers, for example, judges and members of parliament, to declare their assets and liabilities, before
assuming office. These declarations are to be made to the Code of Conduct Bureau. They have to repeat every four years
and at the end of the relevant term of office.
(ii) Gifts and Benefits: The Fifth Schedule, part 1, section 6 (i) of the Constitution says “a public officer shall not ask
for or accept any property or benefit of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything done or omitted to
be done by him in the discharge of his duties”. Section (2) says “…The receipts by a public officer of any gifts or benefits
from commercial firms, business enterprises or persons who have contracts with the government shall be presumed to
have been received in contravention of the said sub-paragraph unless the contrary is proved”.
(iii) Bribing Public Officers and Abuse of Office: Sections 8, 9 and 10 of the 5th Schedule (part I) warn that “No
person shall offer a public officer any property, gifts or benefits of any kind as an inducement or bribe for the granting of
favour or the discharge in his favour of the public officer’s duties”. And that, “a public officer shall not do or direct to be
done, in abuse of his office, any arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of any other person knowing that such act is
unlawful or contrary to any government policy”. Again “a public officer shall not be a member of, belong to, or take part
in, any society the membership of which is incompatible with the functions or dignity of his office”.
(iv) Power and Control over Public Funds: Sections 80(1) and 120(1) of the 1999 Constitution have provided for
the establishment of a Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) at the Federal and state levels, respectively. The CRF is
intended to be a “pool” where all monies raised or received by government, including public debts (internal and external),
are to be paid.
Sections 80(2) and 120(2) have made it clear that no money shall be drawn from the CRF of the Federal and
states respectively, “except to meet expenditure that is charged upon the Fund by this Constitution or where the

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issue of those monies has been authorized by an Appropriation Act, supplementary Appropriation Act or Act
passed in pursuance of section 81(section 121 for the states) of this Constitution”. Similarly, section 80(2, 3 &
4) and section 121(2, 3 & 4) describe how money may be withdrawn properly to meet legitimate expenditure at
the Federal and state levels.
(v) Audit of Public Accounts: Section 85(1) and section 125(1) of the 1999 Constitution have provided for the
appointment of Auditor-Generals for the Federation and each state who shall audit the public accounts of the Federation
and the states, respectively and accounts of all offices and courts of the Federation and states and submit audit reports to
the National Assembly and the House of Assembly of the states, respectively. For this reason, the auditor-generals or
persons authorized by them shall have access to all books, records, returns and other documents relating to these
accounts. Auditor-Generals are to serve as external auditors who are to report to the representatives of the stakeholders –
the legislature.
(vi) Preparation of Financial Statements: Section 85(5) and Section 125(5) of the 1999 Constitution cover the
requirement for the submission of annual financial statements to the relevant auditor-general who shall, within 90 days,
submit reports to the relevant assembly (National Assembly or House of Assembly) which shall then cause the reports to
be considered by a committee responsible for public accounts.
(vii) Checks and Balances: Just as was the case with the 1979, 1989 and 1995 constitutions, the 1999 Constitution
clearly segregates the powers of the judiciary, the legislature and the executive. Chapters V, VI and VII clearly spell out
the powers of each of these three arms of government. These checks and balances should ensure that the financial affairs
of the government are managed in a corrupt-free manner.
(viii) Punishment on Corrupt Practices: Section 18(1), part I, Schedule 5 of the 1999 constitution has empowered
the Code of Conduct Tribunal to impose punishment, specified in the constitution or prescribed by an Act of the National
Assembly, on public officers found guilty of any corrupt practices.
Section 18(2) of the fifth schedule says, “the punishment which the code of conduct Tribunal may impose shall
include any of the following:
(a) Vacation of office or seat in any legislative house, as the case may be;
(b) Disqualification from membership of a legislative house and from the holding of any public office for a period
not exceeding ten (10) years; and
(c) Seizure and forfeiture to the state of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office”.

(xi) Legislative Powers: Section 4(2) of the 1999 Constitution provides that “The National Assembly shall have
power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any
matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in part I of the Second Schedule of the Constitution”.
The above are the major provisions in the 1999 Constitution aiming to prevent or control corrupt practices in
government, society and business activities in Nigeria. It is disturbing that, despite these provisions, the
country is still rated as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. This clearly shows that the Constitutional
provisions are not strong enough to eliminate corruption from the country. Further stringent legal measures,
based on the provisions of the Constitution, especially section 4(2) on legislative powers, must be adopted for
the country to overcome its corruption-related problems.

Structural Weaknesses in the Constitution

As far as the prevention and control of corrupt practices in Nigeria is concerned, the 1999 Constitution is
structurally weak in many areas, the most important of which detailed below. These are the areas where
specific legislative provision is primarily required:

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(a) Issue of Accountability: Although sections 85(5) and 125(5) have provided for the preparation of financial
statements by Accountant-Generals, the period within which the statements are to be prepared was not made clear,
likewise the action to be taken against the Accountant-General for a failure to prepare and submit complete financial
statements to the Auditor-General are not defined.
Over the years, several Auditor-Generals have complained of receiving incomplete financial statements from
Accountant-Generals and that the financial statements are delayed. The complete Accountant-General reports
(financial Statements) are only available for the years before 2000.
Again, the provisions of 1999 Constitution on the treatment of audited financial statements stopped on the
consideration by a committee of the National Assembly or House of Assembly responsible for public accounts.
The Constitution or related legislation should provide for the pronouncement of the actual financial statements
at the end of the year by the President in the same manner as he pronounces budget estimates at the beginning of
the year. It is then that Nigerians could make comparison between what has been budgeted for and what has
actually happened in respect of income and expenditure and, of course, the financial position of the
government.
With proper and sincere records keeping, the office of Accountant-General should be able to make available
statements of Receipts and Payments, Incomes and Expenditures, and Assets and Liabilities for the
consumption of the relevant Assembly and the general public in some few months after the end of a financial
year.
(b) The need for Re-defining Consolidated Revenue Fund (): Under powers and controls over public funds, sections
80(1) and section 120(1) of the constitution are on the establishment of Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) into which all
monies raised or received by the federal or State government shall be put into. These monies raised or received include
public debts (internal and external), which, in modern public finance, are supposed to be treated separately from other
revenues, especially in debtor countries, like Nigeria. The Constitution should have gone by what obtains in theory and
practice of public finance nowadays and, so, remove monies raised or received by government through public debts from
CRF, and put them into a separate fund to be called Consolidated Debt Fund or Consolidated Loan Fund (CDF or CLF).
It is hereby suspected that the drafters of the 1999 Constitution decided to lift the provisions of the 1979
Constitution on CRF, word to word, without being mindful of the changes that have taken place in the approach
to public finance from 1979 to 1999 – a span of twenty years.
Before the promulgation of the 1979 constitution, public debts (at the federal and state levels) were not
significant enough to attract any special constitutional attention. But now, public debts are major sources of
funds to all the three-tiers of government in the country, a situation that calls for constitutional attention and
care in respect of the power to borrow, accounting and remedy. It should be made clear as to who has the power
to borrow money; the Executive or the Legislature? This is necessary for corruption prevention and control.
(c) The Important Issue of ‘Political Will’: The various provisions of the Constitution, and the aforementioned
suggestions for improvement, may be good on paper only if ‘political will’, given by dedication, commitment, honesty
and sincerity of purpose, on the part of the leaders, is weak or missing. In the absence of ‘political will’, corruption cannot
be eradicated or controlled.
The Constitution should have clearly spelt out the character of leaders expected to be the custodians of its
provisions and other laws of the land. This would have been a very good guide to the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) as it screens candidates for various political offices.

An Alternative Model for Fighting Corruption

The Constitutional provisions highlighted above are good attempts at preventing or controlling corruption in
Nigeria. Despite their presence, however, corrupt practices, at all levels of governmental, societal and business

66 International Journal on Governmental Financial Management - 2008

activities, are still significant. The strict measures needed, by the Constitution, to tackle the problem of
corruption are not being adopted by those who have taken oath to bear allegiance with the Constitution. The
required ‘political will’ to follow the provisions of the Constitution is absent. This supports the arguments of
socio-political theorists, like Myrdal (1968), who argue that less developed countries, are “soft states” whose
governments are incapable of dealing with the rigidities of the society that hold back economic development.
Similar theorists are of the view that firm government action is required to overcome these rigidities (for
example, superstition, communalism and ignorance).
Another important and widespread argument is that under-development, which breeds corrupt practices,
occurred over time through exploitation, dependency and the backwash effects suffered by less developed
countries in their relationship with the developed world and that these effects result from imperialism,
colonialism and neo–colonialism, which drain the human and financial resources of the less developed
countries (Frank, 1970).
Another economic argument is that by 1980 Nigeria was well on the way to becoming a middle income country
and many of its young people had been able to go to university. In the early 1980s, at least partly due to external
events, the economy crashed to less than a quarter of its previous level. This dramatic economic reversal meant
that many people faced the choice of returning to their villages in disgrace or learning how to survive in the
city. In these circumstances, is it any wonder that some used their education for illicit ends?
Going by these arguments, developing countries, suffering from high level corruption and related political and
social problems, have to go beyond constitutional provisions in their efforts at solving the problems. The
Malaysian model is a good model for other developing countries, like Nigeria, to adopt. Although it may be
that it was economic development which led to the reduction of corruption in Malaysia, it could also reduce the
problem in Nigeria.
Malaysia was a country suffering from many forms of tribal, religious, racial, ethnic, regional, political, social,
economic and other corruption-related problems. The country’s National Assembly felt that what the country
needed was a Sedition Act. This Act was strictly enforced, thereby substantially overcoming the country’s
problems. Perhaps at least partly as a result, since 1997, the country has enjoyed the status of the fourth most
rapidly industrializing nation in the world (, 1997). In addition, the Transparency International corruption
perception index recognises that corruption is not now a major problem in Malaysia.
Malaysia’s Sedition Act spelt out five no-go areas:
1) Nobody must question the right of the non-indigenous people to citizenship
2) Nobody must question the special position and privileges of the indigenous people, the Bumiputa (sons of the
soil)
3) Nobody must question or ridicule the position of the monarchical rulers in the country
4) There must be no question on the official language of that country, the Malay language
5) Nobody must question that Islam is the official religion of the country (Islam, is however, not the State
religion).
Anybody that is caught questioning any of the five rules is subject to imprisonment (Sopiee, 1997).
It is in the same line that this paper proposes the enactment of the Nigerian version of Sedition Act, by the
country’s National Assembly, which should contain the following clauses:
(i) Nobody must deny access to educational, employment or business opportunity to any Nigerian no
matter his/her chosen place of residence
(ii) Nobody must question the special privileges designed by a State government for the citizens of that State, in
terms of scholarship grants, free or subsidised allocation (of houses, shops, plots of land, farmlands, etc) and
appointment into political offices

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(iii) No public servant must personalise public funds or property in any way and for whatever reason
(iv) Nobody must champion the cause of any tribe in anyway
(v) Although conversion from one religion to another is allowed, nobody must demean, abuse, or castigate any of
the two official religions (Christianity and Islam) or other traditional beliefs.
The penalty for failing to comply with these requirements would, as is the case in Malaysia, imprisonment.

6.0 Summary and Conclusion

This paper has outlined the various dimensions of corruption in Nigeria and their major causes. It has identified
the important provisions contained in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for the
prevention and control of corrupt practices. Some of the areas where the Constitution is weak in terms of
prevention and control of corrupt practices were highlighted. This is in the hope that the country’s new
parliamentarians will take note as they are set to make some amendments to the Constitution or enact related
legislation. This would show the country’s real readiness for the fight against corruption.
In conclusion, Nigeria’s constitutional provisions are not yet considered strong nor stringent enough to
successfully fight against corruption, especially as the country’s leaders appear reluctant to take the necessary
action to ensure its eradication. It is, therefore, recommended that a Sedition Act, with five clauses addressing
all the root causes of corruption in Nigeria, should be enacted by the National Assembly and be strictly
enforced by the relevant law enforcement agencies (, , etc). Here is an opportunity for the National Assembly to
score a very good “goal” that could amount to speedy social, political and economic development of Nigeria.

68 International Journal on Governmental Financial Management - 2008

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